For three days in a row, Wang Xiaolai led Xian Jingyu to step on the Echo Valley, and preliminary calculations showed that at least fifty wells were needed to maintain operation on this thousand acres of land. And that's not even counting the well water that every household will have to use once the people have migrated.

Although there is a lack of water in this Echo Valley, the land is not very dry, which also makes Wang Xiaolai sure that the underground water source in this land is still relatively sufficient, and it can be regarded as a happier thing among many troubles.

The excerpt that Lily brought to the empress quickly responded, and the empress's answer was also concise and to the point, that is, whatever you Wang Xiaolai tossed, I only need the finished products of hot air balloons and gunpowder, in addition, the matter of building the city was also promised to you, and you can move away from the fifty or sixty thousand people in the refugee resettlement place, and if necessary, the two previous refugees in Yuzhou and Qingzhou can also be transferred to you.

The empress's support for Wang Xiaolai is Wang Xiaolai's biggest motivation, otherwise, Wang Xiaolai is really afraid that the empress will not agree and let himself spend 100,000 silver in vain.

After all, this Longshou County is not Wang Xiaolai's fiefdom, how could Wang Xiaolai be allowed to build a city privately?

Fortunately, it makes sense, and I think about it, it was also the sentence in my letter to rebuild Hucheng in order to better cover the manufacture of hot air balloons and gunpowder, so that the empress agreed so happily.

The 200-strong escort team led by Xian Jingyu, plus all the soldiers of Longshou County sent by Liu Taizhen, a total of hundreds of people, helped dig the borehole in the Echo Valley.

At the beginning, after learning that these hundreds of old, weak, sick and disabled were all the troops of Longshou County, not only Wang Xiaolai, but even Shen Xiping had questions.

What's wrong? It turned out that as a county-level place, there must be at least two thousand standing garrisons in Longshou County, but there were only a few hundred people here, and Wang Xiaolai was curious about where the rest of the people went.

Don't say that these people have nothing to do with Wang Xiaolai, you must know that he is now the governor of Longshou County, the military chief of Longshou County, and the top boss of these hundreds of soldiers.

However, some of these hundreds of old, weak, sick and disabled people have not yet grown their teeth, and some of them have lost their old teeth.

If Wang Xiaolai's escort team and these soldiers were allowed to fight, he was sure that the winner would be his own escort team.

With all kinds of dissatisfaction, Wang Xiaolai had to dig the well first, otherwise, you wouldn't even be able to find water to rebuild the city wall.

Troublesome batch.

But what happened next made Wang Xiaolai feel dead headlong.

As for the hundreds of old, weak, sick and disabled people in Longshou County, they ate the most and did the least, and when it was time to go to work, they were as slow as donkeys pulling and grinding.

Wang Xiaolai, who was in a hurry, directly sent everyone away and drove them away.

For this reason, he also quarreled with Liu Taizhen.

I know that Longshou County is poor, but I can't even make the garrison so shabby, after all, the silver that the imperial court distributes to various places every year to train the garrison is not in vain.

Liu Taizhen is also aggrieved, according to the regulations, the imperial court allocates 20,000 taels of military salary every year, and each soldier has ten taels of silver, but you must know that although Longshou County is not far from Daxing City, it is poor, and this layer of down, 20,000 taels of silver to him Liu Taizhen, there are only less than 2,000 left, and the difference is doubled.

You said that Mrs. Liu really has no power and power, and she doesn't have any backstage, so she can report it in a book, but she can't go to the empress at all, and she was ruthlessly rectified by those corrupt officials who cut silver.

No, it's been more than ten years, and they have stayed in Longshou County without moving their nests.

Wang Xiaolai heard the reason for the matter clearly, and said in his heart that this is okay? immediately patted his chest and said that this matter was on him, and he didn't have to worry about Liu Taizhen.

Then, Wang Xiaolai accelerated the excavation of the well, and at the same time asked Shen Xiping to take 30,000 taels of silver to recruit new soldiers in various parts of Longshou County.

As for the hundreds of old, weak, sick and disabled people before, they were all disbanded.

In terms of Sui Yang's rules, although the local garrison army obeyed the orders of the commander, they were recruited by the county guard, in order to prevent the commander from having too much power, but how to say it, Liu Taizhen really didn't have extra energy, and he didn't have enough credit for the young men in Longshou County to join the army, so he had no choice but to send this task to Wang Xiaolai.

···

"Jingyu, how is the excavation of the well?" In his own account, Wang Xiaolai, who had just finished discussing with Hou Selei about the relocation of tens of thousands of refugees in the refugee resettlement area, asked Xian Jingyudao, who had entered the account.

Xian Jingyu shook his head: "The situation is a little not optimistic. ”

Wang Xiaolai looked up: "What's wrong?" ”

Xian Jingyu told the truth: "Back to my lord, there are many stubborn mountains under the Echo Valley, and when digging wells, most places are mined, not to mention the waste of manpower, and many tools are damaged. ”

Wang Xiaolai nodded: "This is a problem, if the people in the refugee resettlement center move over in the future, they will build houses and lay foundations, I am afraid that this problem will also be encountered." ”

Xian Jingyu said: "Then I will take my brothers to dig in a place with soft soil." ”

Wang Xiaolai waved his hand: "No, I have a way to save you some trouble." ”

Xian Jingyu was stunned: "What way?" ”

Wang Xiaolai took out the explosives he had made these days, patted and said, "Put this thing in the mouth of the well you dug and ignite it, so that it can open the mountain and rubble." ”

Xian Jingyu still wondered: "Is it so magical?" ”

Wang Xiaolai smiled: "Don't worry, if you don't have this ability, how dare I build a city here?" ”

When Xian Jingyu heard this, he took the explosives and went out.

After the others left, Hussere, who had left earlier, walked in again, with this ledger in his hand, and his face was full of joy.

"Your Excellency, your Excellency."

Wang Xiaolai looked up: "What's wrong?" ”

Hussere went to him and spread out the ledger: "This is the income sent from all over the country this month. ”

Wang Xiaolai took a look, and was happy at the time: "I'll go, 300,000, so much, I'll take a look." ”

Hou Selei said: "This is still after deducting the silver needed for the development of the shop, and in addition, half of what you instructed your majesty has also been sent." ”

Wang Xiaolai calculated in his heart, which is equivalent to saying that this month, the four states of Si, Qing, and Hebei combined, have a net income of 600,000 taels.

"Take out 200,000 taels from these 300,000 taels and use them to build a new city, and keep the remaining 100,000 taels for emergencies."

When the words fell, Hou Seret was dumbfounded: "My lord, you are still planning to throw money into this Echo Valley." ”

Wang Xiaolai nodded: "Of course, everything has been done, how can you do it if you don't continue to do it." ”

"No, if these 300,000 taels are put in my hands, I can make him become 500,000 taels next month."

Wang Xiaolai waved his hand: "Silver, there will be more in the future, and we can't earn enough, now, our main purpose is to build our own comfort nest." ”

Hou Selei shook his head: "Crazy, crazy, my lord, you are really crazy." ”

Wang Xiaolai pursed his lips and was speechless.

···

After half a month's effort, Wang Xiaolai has been in the Echo Valley for 20 days, and the 50 wells planned at the beginning have already been dug.

With a water source in the valley, Wang Xiaolai's next step can be carried out.

Shen Xiping took the 2,000 garrisons recruited to drive into the Echo Valley, the first task was not to train them in fighting skills, nor to train them in the endurance of long-distance marches, but at the request of Wang Xiaolai, the two thousand soldiers who had just received their weapons put down their knives and guns, picked up hoes and brick knives, and built a city wall that could block the mouth of the valley, which was ten miles long.

Finding Liu Taizhen's help, a recruitment notice was posted everywhere in Longshou County, but if you are a carpenter and bricklayer, as long as you come to Echo Valley to participate in the creation of the new city, everyone will have ten taels of silver per month, not to mention, after the new city is built, there will be a place for you to live.

Most people have no impression of the construction of this new city, but there are a lot of people who come for the ten taels of silver.

I all know that Longshou County has a golden lord Du Wei, I never thought that he would be so rich.

For a time, skilled craftsmen from all over Longshou County gathered one after another, bringing their own tools to participate in the work of building the city.

Thousands of people toiled day and night in Echo Valley, and the shouts could be heard far and wide.

Merchants who smelled business opportunities brought in stones and timber from far away to sell them at low prices to the gold lord Lieutenant, but who would have thought that people didn't want them at all, but they only heard the dull sound coming out of the valley every day, and then saw a lot of gravel being pulled to the mouth of the valley in carts.

As a result, on the market, not only did the stone not rise, but sulfur nitrate powder and other materials, but some were in short supply.